Idea: Hidden Lakes National Park!

Alternately, there may be individuals *cough*me*cough* who still want to be paid for their work. For them, maybe you could establish a "Friends of the Park" group who pays for their own parce, recieves dwell, etc, but agree to conform to the development/non-development rules and hold events that either directly or indirectly benifit the park. If they wished to give up their project, however, the land ought to be returned to the Park Rangers or given to the care of annother established Friend of the Park in order to keep non-park developers out.

Or you could have the Friend of the Park pay their tier fees directly to the Park Service, so they're essentialy renting it from them and the Rangers reserve the right to kick them out if they try to build a mall or a club.

BTW, is anyone going to step up to the plate and take charge of this idea?

So -- coordinate the genii now.

I have no disagreements with what you've said -- you're right about what will happen. And given the choice between a "Hidden Lakes" initiative and nothing at all, I'll take "Hidden Lakes". My point is -- you may get Hidden Lakes, or a designed series of park sims, but perhaps you won't get both. I'd rather go with the designed park sims and allow SL residents to have input from the beginning.

And I'm not sure it would take that much effort to come out with a series of sims that would better serve the population as a park/wilderness preserve. But ultimately -- it's the appeal of an easy and immediate solution compared to one that may take some effort and some risk -- but may also turn out far better.

I like the 'Friends of the Park' idea.... I think it'd be great to have people contributing cash toward supporting the park, and building appropriate things to enhance it. If the park were to actually be established, I think a 'Friends' group would be almost a necessity. The contributors' names could be posted somewhere near the welcome area even.

I agree, though, the whole appeal of the place now is the fact that it's untamed wilderness... you can wander for miles and not see a building, you can rez a plane and fly free and fast without worrying about hitting anything. I don't think a place has to be developed at all for people to want to use it. I'd go there to wander around and get lost in the forest, to sit around a campfire with my friends, to fly, to take photos... beauty should be preserved for its own sake sometimes. There'll always be more new sims to flatten and build in.... how about leaving some of this part wild and untamed?

The problem, for me, with having parkland be owned by a group is that a group can always decide to sell the land because of financial concerns, lack of interest, etc. If it's Linden-owned, it's protected and can't be sold. It can still be managed by others, as mentioned in a post above, which is an intriguing idea.

By the way, I love the idea of rock climbing... I don't see any reason why an area couldn't be terraformed to be used for that purpose. There could be scripted climbing gear available to rent to let you climb on a steep surface. Sounds like fun.

As for the concept of a Park Rangers group.... cool. I hereby volunteer to be one of the first... I'll happily sit down with others and work out ideas for use and preservation of the land, and I'll be glad to take a shift patrolling the area. This area is a stunning example of natural beauty, and I'd hate to see it cleared and filled with malls. I'm happy to do whatever I can do to prevent that.

I think it might be even better idea to include some area near one of the telehubs as national park like in Zermatt. What worked well in snow sims could certainly work well in new sims too

I like the idea of keeping at least part of the area as a national park.

By the way, shouldn't it be Coniston?

I like the idea of keeping at least part of the area as a national park.

By the way, shouldn't it be Coniston?

PS: No, I'm wrong. The Coniston waters in the English Lake District are the better known, but apparently there is a Conistan in Scotland. Should have checked first.

Understood. It's not my perception that SL residents have a particularly impressive track record when it comes to coordinating creative genii. Off the top, I can think of Luskwood, Abbott's, Tehama, FairChang, and Chartreuse, which is gorgeous and wonderful considering mostly what's there are shops and a casino. Mostly, those are the work of one or a small handful of talented people. There's little else in SL I'd call a successful creative collaboration. I would honestly love to see a collaborative effort succeed.

Like so much in SL, this thread was hot for a day or so, then got buried in the wake of 1.5.7 news. Judging from the response (a few considered replies and the customary jokey mocking) I wonder whether it will have any real impact. I hope it will.

Aye. Theres alot of great little parks around SL, but few large ones.

Bump.....

Bumping this to the top again, because it's an important topic that people need to think about... call me a treehugger if you will, but I think this is something that would benefit everybody in SL.

The Lindens have put a lot of hard work into creating this beautiful area, and I think it deserves a more respectful treatment than just flattening it, deleting the trees and building a huge mall.

I've already volunteered to be part of a Park Rangers group, and put a little time whenever possible into patrolling the area... anybody else have any ideas for how to make this happen, in some form?

Someone needs to step up and get it started, is what. Organize a meeting in-game, get people to agree on a basic plan at that meeting, present the idea to the Lindens and ask if they can support the project (whether it be in the form of donating the land, agreing to set asside X amount of protected land, giving the rangers first pick of purchace before it goes up for sale, etc.)

If the Lindens won't support the plan by giving the land away, it means the Rangers/Friends of the Park would have to buy as much land as they could afford, which means being able to beat out the land barons come auction time. That means a lot of fundraising and soliciting help from other players.

Ilianexsi, if you want to be the first Park Ranger and do the work of getting this started, I'll step up as the first Friend of the Park and help you.

Yes I think thats a great idea!!!

I'm not terribly experienced at things like this, but I'd be happy to organize meetings for interested people to discuss ideas and make plans.... and I'm happy to present the final ideas to the Lindens, and be a contact person for anybody interested in helping.

Ideally, I'd like for some of the land to be set aside as Linden-protected, with a group of players having the responsibility for developing and maintaining it, even raising funds to help... perhaps others might have more workable ideas.

I'll look at my schedule, and sometime within the next couple of days I can have an event for a meeting/discussion for anybody interested in working on this idea. Thanks for your help, I know I'll need it!

Sorry for jumping in on this late. I been spending all my time in this area and wasnt really aware that it was dubbed Lost Lakes. The last few days I have become very familiar with the region and layout. I will someday live in this region.

As for the national park idea, I agree that some land should be set aside and developed (slightly) for recreational use. The thin strip of land in SW Ambleside should be sunk to create an island. The new island made of Waterhead, Ambleside, Kirkby, Hawkshead, and Grasmere should remain in Linden control. This island creates an area slightly larger than three sims. Since Waterhead is poised to be a Start Area, three sims is very acceptable, using Ahern, Morris, and Dore (Rizal and Oak Grove makes a 4th and 5th Linden sim in that region) as a point of reference.

As for the actual development of this area, all it really needs is a instructor stage hidden in the woods, boat launch added to the existing parking lot rez area, free boat rentals (personal wish to promote water use), hiking trails with little scenic clearings along the way, some benches, an observation tower in either Kirkby or Hawkshead, and maybe some sort of natural wonder or point of interest none of us have thought of yet. The whole island park region, with the exception of the rez area, should be no fly to encourage walking. No Fly is proving to be acceptable in Olde London and is a logical move in a park area.

As for the rest of the region, this is what really concerns me the most since somewhere in there I will have my home land. My primary concern is the clear cutting of the trees. I like the fact that the parcels are fairly good size, averaging 4096m2. These larger plots allow about 950 prim use, which (for most people) will afford a nice amount of trees in addition to the builds that go up. They also encourage some elbow room, the way the plots are laid out now, none of them need the extended use of a property line to support a build. As the plots grow smaller, trees are the first to go in favor of furniture.

My aditional concern is the continued beauty of the land after settlement. I plan sparse, rustic builds that compliment the environment. But, I know I cant expect that from everyone that plans to settle in the region. Or, can I? We need a way to organize and agree to be gentle with the land. No strict building codes, just a friendly agreement to keep each other in mind and preserve the area with gentle, pleasing builds that promotes the region as a destination that all of SL can have pride in.

This region means very much to me already and I hope that the ones that settle in the region care for it as much as I do. I hope those that want to be there are able to get a nice size piece of land and can be happy with their building choices and of those of their neighbors. Afterall, its the forest. Let it feel remote. The island that makes up Borrowdale is set up for commercial builds, I expect and look forward to that. But, I can only hope that NE and SE of Waterhead, we see mostly see gentle builds.

Regardless of what happens, I will be a part of it. Where do we go from here? What can I do to help?

I'm in favor of a park, and I really liked the suggested idea of rentable campsites.

And I was going to say I'm not in favor of making Grasmere part of the park, because I have my eye on some land there. But on reconsideration . . . it's too good for one av to keep to herself. Besides, someone else would probably outbid me anyway, and if I hadda see all the trees whacked so someone could put a clubmallasino there . . .

I'd be happy to participate in husbanding this wilderness.